Tuesday, December 13, 2011

V for Vendetta

I researched more about Howard Zinn. The below-mentioned paragraphs are indeed insightful.

Due to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, on July 30, 2010, the FBI released a file with 423 pages of information on Howard Zinn’s life and activities. During the height of McCarthyism in 1949, the FBI first opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn (FBI File # 100-360217), based on the latter’s involvement in what the agency considered to be communist front groups and informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). Zinn denied ever being a member and said that he had participated in the activities of various organizations which might be considered Communist fronts but that his participation was motivated by his belief that in this country people had the right to believe, think, and act according to their own ideals.

Later in the 1960s, as a result of Zinn’s campaigning against the Vietnam War and his “influence” on Martin Luther King, the FBI designated Zinn a high security risk to the country, a category that allowed them to summarily arrest him if a state of emergency were to be declared. The FBI memos also show that they were concerned with Zinn’s repeated criticisms of the FBI for failing to protect blacks against white mob violence.

Zinn's daughter said she was not surprised by the files; "He always knew they had a file on him".

I also want to recommend a 2006 flick called “V for Vendetta” – a thought-provoking screenplay that takes place in an alternate vision of Britain in which a corrupt and abusive totalitarian government has risen to complete power and how a shadowy freedom fighter known only as "V" uses terrorist tactics to fight against a totalitarian society. V embodies the principles of rebellion from an authoritarian state, donning a mask of vilified would-be terrorist of British history Guy Fawkes and leading a revolution sparked by assassination and destruction. Here’s the trailer:

I watched the film on Saturday. I hope we will not become the country portrayed in this movie but it is scary when you think about it because what with the going-ons, it is always possible! 'Possible' - the word frightens me!